The detection of energy waste that can result from operational faults (for example if a room is heated and cooled simultaneously) or from faults of heating, ventilation, or air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment can translate into a significant energy savings especially if these faults are detected right away. For example, an estimated 15% to 30% of energy could be saved if faults in the HVAC system and its operation could be detected in a timely manner. See, for example, Q. Zhou et al., “A Model-Based Fault Detection and Diagnosis Strategy for HVAC Systems,” International Journal of Energy Research, 33(10):903-918 (2009).
Currently, the configuration of a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) is a manual process. Efforts have been made to automate the process. See, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0055748, filed by Vacariuc, entitled “Systems and Methods for Mapping Building Management System Inputs” (hereinafter “U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0055748”). U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0055748 provides a process for semi-automatically linking data points of a Building Management System (BMS) to energy assets (such as air handling units, boilers, and chillers).
There are however some notable drawbacks to the method of U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2011/0055748. Namely, the linkage between BMS data points and energy assets is not sufficient for configuring BEMS automatically, because the process requires local knowledge of what energy assets are available in the building. The automatic component of the process consists simply of a string matching approach which is of limited value, and the process is not fully automatic and does require user input.
Thus, fully automated techniques for configuring a BEMS that overcomes the above-described issues associated with known solutions would be desirable.